Howdy, Stranger!

Badges

Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@newbuddhist.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take up to 48 hours. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

About

Reactions

Comments

@Hozan said:
@upekka i totally agree with @dhammachick and @karasti. To be honest I find it quite patronising and insulting to see you type breezily about medications not needed for medical conditions. That is utter nonsense. My son has Cystic Fi…

@karasti said:
@upekka that is simply not true. I believe strongly in the mind body connection, and that we do have vastly more control over our health than we have been lead to believe. I do believe that a large % of people who are on medication…

@dhammachick said:
And just to add so people don't think it's another dig at one of your posts (even though it kind of is because I think it's a ridiculous statement)......
I am living with a non curable, degenerative neurological disease …

@eggsavior said:
@upekka i am confused by your mention of elements and change. though change is inevitable, what if it comes on too slowly? if someone is direly mentally ill, they need change forced upon them through intervention. as you say,…

@dhammachick said:
Ok so I guess rushing in and taking that pesky chemo 20 years ago was pointless too right?
i did the same thing 15 years ago
I mean if I'd just WAITED the cancer would have cured itself
if i knew what …

@federica said:
Are you reading the book, @upekka ?
i read this:
IV. ATTHAKAVAGGA.
* KÂMASUTTA.
Sensual pleasures are to be avoided.
* If he who desires sensual pleasures is successful, he certainly becomes glad-minded, having…

@upekka said:
the first concrete step towards unbinding is meditating to:
understand the perception is a word
be able to see the world without words
tranquility meditation, both tranquility meditation and insight meditation or insigh…

i think it is better to take all vada, yana etc., Theravada, Mahayana, Hinayana, Zen etc. into account and practise
our own practice will tell us what is right and which way we must go
then
what we are practising is Buddha's Teaching only
then t…

@Kerome said:
I found this morning that worry almost seemed to arise out of the body... I woke up feeling tranquil, my mind then during breakfast settled on something smallish, and before I knew it I was experiencing worry again. While in the lar…

until one is dead one or others can not know how the death happens
even if one is trying to suicide, one can not know for sure whether that would be successful according to the plan
in other words, to know when to die or how to die is impossible
…

@Kerome said:
The "chemical imbalance" theory of the cause of mental disorders has been disproven pretty thoroughly by now, most mental disorders seem to be sociogenic in origin.
https://www.madinamerica.com/2015/04/spurious-chemical-i…

@namarupa said:
Without Buddhism I don't know where I'd be, either dead, insane, or 1000 times more depressed than I already am maybe.
Perhaps anger is not just something to be unrooted this lifetime. Perhaps maybe I decided last lifetime…

@lobster said:
The mind based solution for me is insufficient or rather inefficient compared to working with the mind-body complex as a whole.
Hmmm. .... what if 'i'm here and now'
what exactly the 'i'm here and now' is another quest…

**Doing nothing for which
he himself
would rebuke himself,
the enlightened person doesn't adhere
to what's seen,
to what's heard.
Comprehending perception,
he'd cross over the flood —
the sage not stuck
on possessions.
Then, with arr…

@Shoshin said:
I often 'think' about this...
But "I" don't always get it right....
can you see the empty space in between the letters, in this case T H I N K
what we always do is add them together and give it a meaning
it is a…

@vinlyn said:
@Dhammika said:
Even delusion is impermanent.
that is why there is a hope for freedom
@vinlyn said:
but I've known people who have been deluded for at least decades.
in my case i had been deluded 54 year…

this thread is very old, but it is valid for today
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/4619/the-four-noble-truths
the suffering is two kind:
mental suffering and bodily suffering
insight meditation helps to see the difference,
in other words,…

the first concrete step towards unbinding is meditating to:
understand the perception is a word
be able to see the world without words
tranquility meditation, both tranquility meditation and insight meditation or insight meditation
listening…

@karasti said:
But reading is not testing to me.
reading or thinking over what we have read is not testing
actually thinking increases suffering
I develop hypotheses for a lot of things. But they aren't proof until they are actual…

@karasti said:
so what exactly did you do to test rebirth?
have you heard/read Dependent Origination (paticca samuppada)
have you heard/read Four Frame of Reference (sathara-sathi-pattana)
i have been practising FFR and by doing so yo…

@karasti said:
Except Buddha told us not to have faith even in his teachings. If none of us can ever prove definitely what happens when we die, then how do we trust it without simply doing so "because he said so." ? He even said "Do not go upon.…

@Jeffrey said:
We don't see where anyone goes after they die. So who knows.
yes we can't see
that's why we have to have a bit of faith in Buddha's Teaching if want to practice it
But if some Buddhist were to stop clinging would we…

once one sees the outside and the inside is the same one sees what freedom is
until then it is a guessing game
that is why we need to have a bit of faith in Buddha's Teaching and test it to see whether the Teaching is correct
without testing and …

@karasti said:
@upekka Because I'm pretty sure that celibacy is required of most (not all) monks, and therefore it would be pretty difficult to experience, for example, raising children. It would also be different to experience the challenges in …

@silver said:
if one is a layperson, how on earth are they to avoid the re-birthing thingy?
there are three stages a lay person can practice without going forth
How would a spiritual 'teacher' explain it, especially if they are East…

@karasti said:
yeah, honestly I think it's common here for the man to have more responsibility.
it is common to many places
My husband is our only wage earner. He certainly wouldn't feel free to renounce his family and responsibilit…

@person said:
In general though I don't want to deny any deeper meaning or intention in the teachings that can be accomplished because it is too difficult to attain for myself in my life.
difficult doesn't mean impossible
@pers…

@karasti said:
For my part, I'm not sure I believe there is only room for one Buddha. As it goes, we all have the identical nature of Buddha within us. If there can only be one on earth at any time, as well as on earth only when the teachings of …

@karasti said:
I don't think logical understanding is required in any way. It just makes it easier to explain. Buddha KNEW it before he named and explained it.
hundred present agreed
We can know it the same way.
this is Budd…

@karasti said:
we choose our binding and we can choose to let it go whenever
no, we can't choose because we are already conditioned
Buddha found out this and introduced Dependent Origination to the world
that is why we must try to know …

@CedarTree said:
Hopefully second Jhana or even the immaterial Jhanas! I practice more a "Simply sitting" style that is known at Antaiji or Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery but before I was also someone from the Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Brahm camp and still…

@Bunks said:
@upekka. Fyi, Jayson hasn't been around here for ages so I wouldn't expect a response.
thanks
sometimes i wouldn't log in but just go through the topics
hoping he would do the same, i posted

i have just listened to a dhamma talk given by a Monk
He says even the consciousness is made up of four elements and there are only four elements in the space
in other words, even though we talk of our body and consciousness there are only fou…

@JaySon said:
Metta meditation takes me closer to realizing emptiness than Vipassana does.
But maybe that's just me.
would like to know your progress @JaySon
that would be an inspiration to us too
thanks

@JaySon said:
So, all was going fine.
Then weirdness happened.
For the first time I clearly identified the "I" that I think I am, and saw that it was a very weak construction that had no substance to it except the idea I've form…

@JaySon said:
My ill will toward Vipassana doesn't show up in my Samatha Meditation.
But yes, you could say I greed for tranquillity at least when I first sit.
greed for tranquillity is good because it erase hindrances by degrees
…

@Shoshin said:
What is duality ?
"Awareness is fundamentally non-conceptual before "thinking" splits experience into subject and object. It is empty and so can contain everything, including 'thoughts' .It is boundless . And…

@federica said:
We could go on like this ad infinitem, @upekka. But that would just get more and more irritating.
Wouldn't it?
yes, if one just think about it one gets more and more questions and get irritated and get tired too
…

@Jeffrey said:
How do you see 'change' without that seeing being a perception?
is this question arises after practicing 'how to reduce arising the perception and gain a concentrated mind (a period without perception/ jhana)'?

@techie said:
Is it really possible to separate 'change' and our perception of it?
of course
first know what the perception is
then practice how to reduce arising it and gain a concentrated mind (a period without perception/ jhana)
…

@Kerome said:
I find life reminds me often enough that I still have distances to go before I attain real peace. Like when I went looking for work recently, and found myself getting stressed at job interviews... after all, what is there to be stre…

@shanyin said:
I have however, become violent at times. I have even expressed the desire to become violent on this forum once. But I have also been on the receiving end of violence from family friends, and the hospital.
we all do mistakes…